Mueller’s apparent choice to decline to make a charging decision on whether President Trump obstructed justice, and instead outsource that decision to Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, has many experienced attorneys puzzled.
“The whole reason to have a special counsel is to insulate the decision maker from the executive chain of command,” McQuade said.
“By making the decision himself, Barr feeds into the cynical narrative that President Trump appointed an AG who would protect him.”.
Others suggested that Mueller’s decision to punt makes sense, and that Barr’s decision was not completely out of the ordinary.
Since much of it is a judgment call, I can see why Mueller would let that decision be made by others.”.
Barr’s letter doesn’t go into much detail in explaining why the prosecutorial decision fell into Barr and Rosenstein’s hands.
“I’m not aware of any case where an attorney general made the decision on a prosecution or non-prosecution for obstruction of justice. »